PHP | array_column() Function

The array_column() is an inbuilt function in PHP and is used to return the values from a single column in the input array. 

Syntax: 

array array_column($input_array, $column_number, $index_key);

Parameters: 
Out of the three parameters, two are mandatory and one is optional. Let's look at the parameters. 

1. $input_array (mandatory): This parameter refers to the original multi-dimensional array from which we want to extract all the values of a particular column.
2. $column_number (mandatory): This parameter refers to the column of values that is needed to be returned. This value may be an integer key of the column, or it may be a string key name for an associative array or property name. It may also be NULL to return complete arrays or objects.
3. $index_key (optional): This is an optional parameter and refers to the column to use as the index/keys for the returned array in output. This value may be the integer key of the column, or it may be the string key name.

Return Type: As shown in the syntax, the return type of array_column() function is array. That is, the function returns an array that contains values from a single column of the input array, identified by a column_number. Optionally, an index_key may also be provided to index the values in the returned array by the values from the index_key column of the input array.

Examples: 

Input : 
      array(
        array(
            'roll' => 5,
            'name' => 'Akash',
            'hobby' => 'Cricket',
        ),
        array(
            'roll' => 1,
            'name' => 'Rishav',
            'hobby' => 'Football',
        ),
        array(
            'roll' => 3,
            'name' => 'Anand',
            'hobby' => 'Chess',
        ),
      )
  
      $column_number = 'hobby'  ,   $index_key = 'roll'
Output : 
      Array
      (
         [5] => Cricket
         [1] => Football
         [3] => Chess
         [4] => Cards
         [2] => Basketball
      )

In the above example, the array_column() function is used to fetch the values of column with key as 'name' and these values in the output array are stored with keys which are taken from values of the key 'roll' in the original array.

Below program illustrates the array_column() with all three parameters:  

<?php
// PHP code to illustrate the working of array_column
function Column($details){
    $rec = array_column($details, 'name', 'roll');
    return $rec;
}

// Driver Code
$details = array(
    array(
        'roll' => 5,
        'name' => 'Akash',
        'hobby' => 'Cricket',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 1,
        'name' => 'Rishav',
        'hobby' => 'Football',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 3,
        'name' => 'Anand',
        'hobby' => 'Chess',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 4,
        'name' => 'Gaurav',
        'hobby' => 'Cards',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 2,
        'name' => 'Rahim',
        'hobby' => 'Basketball',
    ),
);
print_r(Column($details));
?>

Output: 

Array
(
    [5] => Akash
    [1] => Rishav
    [3] => Anand
    [4] => Gaurav
    [2] => Rahim
)

We can also ignore the third parameter that is index_key. Then, in this case, the column in output array will get indexed in a linear manner as given in the array. Below is the PHP program to illustrate this:  

<?php
// PHP code to illustrate the working of array_column
function Column($details){
    $rec = array_column($details, 'hobby');
    return $rec;
}

// Driver Code
$details = array(
    array(
        'roll' => 5,
        'name' => 'Akash',
        'hobby' => 'Cricket',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 1,
        'name' => 'Rishav',
        'hobby' => 'Football',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 3,
        'name' => 'Anand',
        'hobby' => 'Chess',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 4,
        'name' => 'Gaurav',
        'hobby' => 'Cards',
    ),
    array(
        'roll' => 2,
        'name' => 'Rahim',
        'hobby' => 'Basketball',
    ),
);
print_r(Column($details));
?>

Output: 

Array
(
    [0] => Cricket
    [1] => Football
    [2] => Chess
    [3] => Cards
    [4] => Basketball
)

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Article Tags :

• Web Technologies
• PHP-array